NewsFebruary 26, 2013 2:06 PM ET12,430 views

Machine Head explains why Adam Duce was fired

Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn has posted a lengthy explanation regarding the firing of bass player Adam Duce. Here you go:
2-11-13. That is the date we fired Adam Duce. That is the day that I had to tell Adam that after 21 years of being in a band together, I just couldn't take it anymore. That is the day I said "My hope is that this can be amicable." The words sounded like someone else had spoken them. It was like being outside of my body watching someone else deliver these painful words. But, it was me saying it. And we all said it. We had our say sitting in our jam room in Oakland. Dave said it. Joseph (our manager) said it. Phil said it. We all said that we couldn't take being in a band with him anymore. That if this didn't happen, we were going to break up the band. It was hard. One of the hardest moments of my life. It was also a long time coming. We may have fired Adam on 2-11-13, but Adam quit Machine Head well over a decade ago. He just never bothered to tell anyone… but we all knew it. Contrary to popular belief, being in a band is tough. Really fucking tough. It's the toughest sonofabitch you'll ever come across in your life and it will beat the living shit out of you 80% of the time. Many times it feels like one big rollercoaster, the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. There are wins and losses seemingly every single day. Being in a band is one of life's strangest gambles. But when you do win, when you win that 20%, well... it truly is salvation. It's what makes eating the other 80% of that shit-sandwich bearable. It's where "those" stories come from. It can be the best job you'll ever have and unquestionably one of the hardest you'll ever have. But until you've done it for 20+ years, you have no clue. Until you've held a band together for 20+ years, you really don't know jack shit about it. You think you do. You don't. A band is a dysfunctional family. A brotherhood, a family business, and a renaissance-era-court. You're room-mates in studio-apartment-on-wheels for years-at-a-time, 24-hours-a-day. Plus you're in the pressure cooker of the spotlight, every move analyzed, read into, or attacked. Everybody wants something from you, everybody wants to be your friend, everybody loves you, everybody can do so-much-better-for-you-than-the-people-you-have-now. Some people try and turn you against each other, and everyone wants to take credit for your success. Often time you're enemies. At odds and fighting about something, but "pretending" everything is "fine" onstage. But it isn't... You just wear a mask that looks like it's fine, and after 20 years, we know that mask so well, it slides on way too fuckin' easy. Adam hasn't been happy in this band for a long time. But how do you leave? To a guy like Adam everything is either winning or losing. A stunning victory or the ultimate failure. There was no in-between. And while that sounds great for a TV show or an interview-sound-bite, or even a John Wayne movie that wraps up in 90 minutes... life just isn't like that. And life certainly isn't like that for a band like Machine Head. A band who operate in the upper-middle-tier. For us, there are no stunning victories, only respectable wins. No ultimate failures, just better-luck-next-times. We carved a niche, we OWN that niche, but it's still just a niche. Nothing wrong with that. No matter how un-happy or fed up he got, quitting the band would be seen as "losing" or a "failure". Truth be told, he was sick of it. Sick of touring, sick of recording, sick of practicing, sick of looking at album artwork, sick of being-on-a-team-but-never-getting-the-ball, sick of yearning-for-the-honeymoon-to-resume when 20 years deep it never does. Sick of never quite hitting the big-time, sick of carving the niche... sick of caring. I don't blame him. It's hard to keep the passion. But he just wouldn't quit. We wanted him to quit. We were hoping he would quit, "guys, my heart isn't in this anymore, it was a good run, later dayz". We didn't want it to come to this... But he wouldn't. I didn't feel anything as I drove away from the jam room that night. When I awoke the next morning I didn't feel anything either. I wasn't "numb," I still "felt", was just kinda blank. But three days after the meeting, an argument broke out in the jam room about how conflicted I felt about it. Then I cried. I cried and cried. I've cried every day since. I've been an emotional wreck. I cried writing this. I was sick the day that we announced it (11 days and 2 General Journals after actually doing it), walking around about to vomit for hours. I met with him for a couple hours last Wednesday, met with him yesterday. It's civil. I don't know what else to say. I don't have some inspirational quote to end with here. I'm not gonna sit here and tell you everything is gonna be all right, or that's it gonna be the same. At this moment I can't even bring myself to say that it's going to be better. Why? Because it sucks. It fucking sucks. It sucks for everyone who tried to save this. It sucks more than you can imagine... It's a horrible relief.

57 comments

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anonymous 2/26/2013 11:10:41 AM

TL;DR.

anonymous 2/26/2013 11:11:31 AM

When's the book signing?

anonymous 2/26/2013 11:14:20 AM

I dont know a single person who likes Machine Head.

LLSSPoet 2/26/2013 11:19:32 AM

What band is this

ineedmoresalt 2/26/2013 11:20:31 AM

that was quite long, and they are quite old

anonymous 2/26/2013 11:29:16 AM

Trolls trolls everywhere...At least the dude is honest.

anonymous 2/26/2013 11:36:33 AM

OHHHH VANFLIP ROFLCOPTERZ

kosher_dill 2/26/2013 11:38:40 AM

That was incredibly dramatic. I can't stop farting.

anonymous 2/26/2013 11:39:21 AM

What a pssy. Grow a pair. Some laguna beach drama for real.

MeatDelivery 2/26/2013 11:48:34 AM

My chain wallet has a "2-11-13 we will never forget" sticker.

anonymous 2/26/2013 11:59:07 AM

have some respsect you prepubscent gays. These guys have been around for longer than you were in your fathers nut sack, and I remember when they put out their first album. it fcking killed. You don't deserve to know shit else about them, they fell off when they put out the burning red, but they still have their place.

anonymous 2/26/2013 11:59:36 AM

MeatDelivery7 minutes ago My chain wallet has a "2-11-13 we will never forget" sticker. lolol you win.

anonymous 2/26/2013 12:00:59 PM

yeah, have some respsect.

populationcontrol 2/26/2013 12:01:11 PM

Sounds like he wrote this to be read at a poetry contest sitting on a wooden stool in a dimly lit room.

anonymous 2/26/2013 12:03:24 PM

must suck even more because no one fcking cares.

LoydChristmas 2/26/2013 12:15:50 PM

dude, he's a fcking bass player. get another one, lol. keep your phony sob story, we know it just helps you feel less guilty about firing your friend, whatever. also, LOL at the chain wallet comment.

anonymous 2/26/2013 12:37:43 PM

I thought machine head was something you got from a Japanese fun robot. hey-o!!!

anonymous 2/26/2013 12:38:18 PM

I cried. I cried reading this. I cried writing this. I cried re-reading this. gayS.

anonymous 2/26/2013 12:40:31 PM

I'd lose passion in the band too if I was involved in any of the last albums. Band has been treading water creatively for years. Rob is an egomaniac alcoholic. Adam was the rock of the band, besides Dave. Must be nice firing the guy who helped you build your "upper middle tier" band. Way to go Rob.

anonymous 2/26/2013 12:50:49 PM

if Robb Flynn got the balls to fire Adam Duce who stuck by his side since they started the band then fire that gay fck Phil Demmel because he's a shitty guitarist and married to the meth head Marta Peterson from bleeding through so fire Phil and bring back ADAM and maybe Logan too

i_talk_shit 2/26/2013 1:07:58 PM

"if Robb Flynn got the balls to fire Adam Duce who stuck by his side since they started the band then fire that gay fck Phil Demmel" -- you do realize Phil and Robb were in Vio-Lence together starting in 1985 until the formation of MH in 1991, right?

anonymous 2/26/2013 1:10:29 PM

I commented. Then i deleted my comment. You have no idea how hard it is to comment. You think you know, but you don't. Help me comment I can't stop crying.

anonymous 2/26/2013 1:38:26 PM

Crying is stoked.

anonymous 2/26/2013 1:57:49 PM

But he just wouldn't quit. We wanted him to quit. We were hoping he would quit. Quitting is for losers Flynn you gay. Didn't your Mom's fourth boyfriend ever teach you that?! Go shed tears you fcking cry-baby

anonymous 2/26/2013 2:48:24 PM

you whining little bitch sack up the dude was dead weight..they should be firing you next..

anonymous 2/26/2013 3:58:11 PM

being in a band is the toughest thing in life? what a retard. machoine dead.

anonymous 2/26/2013 4:52:57 PM

Kleenex is stoked!

anonymous 2/26/2013 5:01:31 PM

He says this like he's ever had a 60-hr a week office job. He don't know

anonymous 2/26/2013 5:36:21 PM

get over yourself, you fcking burnout gay

anonymous 2/26/2013 5:40:46 PM

Can they replace him with someone who can actually fcking SING? Sounds like Robs trying to take a shit in every chorus.

bees 2/26/2013 6:15:13 PM

I cried and cried. I cried and cried. I cried and cried. I cried and cried. I cried and cried. I cried and cried. I cried and cried. I cried and cried. I cried and cried. I cried and cried. I cried and cried. I cried and cried. I cried and cried. I cried and cried. I cried and cried. I cried and cried.

anonymous 2/26/2013 6:50:29 PM

fck you loyd christmas you wannabe elitist nerd.

anonymous 2/26/2013 7:03:24 PM

My Puckery jerk has finally been blown wide open. I can finally shit comfortably knowing that machine head will now be able to unleash their fury into an album that noone will listen to as they are now unencumbered by a member that quit ten years ago without telling anyone. Milton waddams has been let go by the "bob's" and all will soon be well. They went ahead and "fixed the glitch." I can't stop crying.

SuckMeBeautiful 2/26/2013 7:09:25 PM

well this is the gayest thing I read today

anonymous 2/26/2013 7:52:35 PM

"I have killed. I have helped kill. I have killed part of myself. I cannot change this.I... I must seek Buddha. I must seek Christ"

conduit 2/26/2013 8:06:10 PM

I'm sure they'll be able to channel those tears into their next nu-metal masterpiece. Working lyrics for the first single "21 years". 21 years, goodbye sweet prince, 21 years, and for what? 21 years, to face my fears 21 years, for all these tears.

long_insured_now 2/26/2013 8:45:47 PM

I cried when I took a dump and it was so wide it tore my jerk, that was not fun....

anonymous 2/26/2013 9:13:08 PM

emmure is stoked.

slut 2/26/2013 9:19:05 PM

Line breaks and short sentences are stoked. Very stoked.

anonymous 2/26/2013 9:30:01 PM

Machine Head just launched a grammar and punctuation app on iTunes

Deadwithfear 2/27/2013 12:04:26 AM

Not nearly enough hyphen jokes. C'mon goats. Let's get it together.

anonymous 2/27/2013 5:56:34 AM

Robb Flynn is a grown up emo kid. An emo man. Press releases are his LiveJournal.

anonymous 2/27/2013 6:30:03 AM

John Boehner is stoked.

anonymous 2/27/2013 8:25:43 AM

breathe in, breathe out

zerofender 2/27/2013 9:08:06 AM

If any member of any band ever quits/gets fired/goes to drugs/focuses on their side project, literally no one cares. Doesn't matter what band it is, I don't need a Haiku about it.

anonymous 2/27/2013 9:59:19 AM

Sack check in the washed-up hack aisle. Remember something when you're cutting yourself tonight: its "down the block" not "across the street" - lets end this ok buddy?

anonymous 2/27/2013 10:44:43 AM

Machine Head: the broadway musical.

anonymous 2/27/2013 3:19:31 PM

I don't see the problem with this post. He told everyone what was up. Of course he was a little overboard, and yes, I'm pretty sure there are way harder things in life than being in a band. He should be thankful he was able to live his dream like he has. Either way though, I'm sure it's a big deal for him and Adam.

RickRock 2/27/2013 5:02:39 PM

The underside of my desk is rife with boogers. It's a fcking snot colony under there. MAGIC NOSE GOBLINS.

dirk_badoodi 2/27/2013 6:12:58 PM

No one needs to explain why a dude named Adam Duce would be relieved of his duties. The name Adam Duce speaks for itself.

dirk_badoodi 2/27/2013 6:14:32 PM

Robb Flynn is a cool guy. Just needs to stop smoking that crack and writing these long statements.

anonymous 3/16/2013 10:41:57 PM

Machinehead will die without Duce...thats why rob is whimperi.g..he really just wants to try and get the rest of vio lence to join his band and hes afraid to speak the truth..its the guilt thats making poor little rob cry and cry some more...i hopr je drowns in tears and vomit...(the name of my next band..Tears of Vomit) thanks Rob!

anonymous 3/27/2013 1:50:57 PM

You people fcking suck.I thought blabbermouth kids were ignorant and stupid retarted shitheads but you all took their place. Please all of you kill yourself now

anonymous 4/12/2013 12:42:50 PM

Do you people just read articles so that you can talk shit? Why the fck did you read the article? Not to sound cliche, but get a fcking life. I wanted to know why they split and this article explained it. Anyone who claims that they would feel nothing after having to fire a 20 year long friend is likely trying to mask the fact that they're secretly gay. All you closeted fcks can eat a bag of dicks. Nobody thinks you're cynical, "afraid of anything emotional" attitudes are cool.

anonymous 4/21/2013 3:09:12 AM

Machine Head are one of my fave bands and think the whole thing with Adam sucks. I wish Adam every success in whatever he decides to do next.

anonymous 11/13/2014 8:54:42 PM

Internet tough guys everywhere! I wish I was that cool.

anonymous 11/13/2014 8:56:05 PM

The new album is fcking awesome, by the way. I can't even tell that Adam isn't there.




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